Income Down From 1999, Tax Data Show

[dhinojosa]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/28/business/28tax.html

Published: September 28, 2005

The total income of Americans in 2003, adjusted for inflation, was 4 percent smaller than in 1999, new tax return data showed yesterday.

While the number of taxpayers grew by 5.6 million individuals and couples, average income fell even more - by 6.5 percent - while the average wage slipped slightly, with the average job paying $5 a week less.

Over all, incomes were $263 billion lower in 2003 than in 1999 when adjusted for inflation to 2004 dollars, according to data that the Internal Revenue Service posted yesterday on its Web site.

Most of this decline occurred among investors and others with incomes of $1 million or more. The number of Americans making that much fell by 12 percent, to 181,300 taxpayers in 2003, from 205,124 in 1999. Their average income fell, too, to just under $3 million, a decline of more than $572,000, or 16 percent. Over all, the income of this group fell by $190 billion, or 72 percent, of the total decline.

[obxhead]

1. Those poor, poor millionaires...

I feel sooooo bad for them.
:sarcasm:

[burrowowl]

5. I am just

so sad for those Bu$h voting millionaires! REALLY! :sarcasm:

Unless you are in the top 1% those old families, e.g. Morgans (who have gotten richer after every depression, read Kevin Philips: Wealth and Democracy) and a few new ones, e.g, Bill Gates, voting for Repukes is shear insanity!

[dhinojosa]

10. Looks like Gore's math was called just plain math

ugh

[Democrats_win]

2. The declining income/raising prices hurt the working class more.

[Hello_Kitty]

3. But...but....the tax cuts are supposed to spark economic growth!

Guess not, huh? :shrug:

[burrowowl]

6. Under Eisenhower

Corporations where taxed 90% on profits unless they reinvested in the company, e.g., machine tools or now it would be for example scrubbers in coal fired plants, new plants with CO2 injection into closed salt chambers, etc.; windfalls were taxed, etc.

[llmart]

9. Yeah, and I guess those $300 checks ole' Georgie gave everyone......

didn't help us out that much now, did it? I remember how excited the sheeple were to get those checks like it was going to make a whole lot of difference in their lives.

The people in this country are fools.

[burrowowl]

14. And they weren't rebates

just a prepayment of your refund, if you didn't have a refund coming, then what you owed was + the $300.

[Erika]

4. But I bet global wages grew

We shrink in income, the rest of the globe increases. Given to you by W, the corporatist global king. He never had any concern or interest in America's well being. None///zilch.

[fasttense]

7. So Income peaked in 2000.

Average income has declined ever since 2000. Now wasn't that when the Supremes destroyed Democracy and selected our president for us?

Even the rich are losing money under brush. I guess trickle down really doesn't work.

[demnan]

8. The rich people lost because the stock market dropped

but it soon went up again. The rest of us suffered because they shipped as many good paying jobs overseas as they could and nothing is made in the United States anymore except Japanese cars at non-union plants.

[1932]

11. Smaller pie. But some have a much bigger piece of it.

Those people who have a bigger piece generally aren't compensated for their labor, but make their money from capital gains and dividends.

[Mountainman]

12. Poor babies, they need to go to E-trade. Sitting all day at your laptop

by the pool making wise investment decisions can be so taxing!

Jeeves, bring me another martini, will you?

[shrike]

13. Mine sure have

And I'm no investor. Working people have seen their incomes decline, too, and the results are much more dramatic.

I'm self-employed. When I began, in 1995, I had more work than I could shake a stick at. I noticed a definite slowdown beginning in 2000, right after the election. In fact, after Fearless Leader was inaugrated, one of my longtime clients cut back its independent contractor budget by more than half.

Every year I've seen my income shrink. Fortunately, my husband has a good pension and social security, plus a small business he runs on the side. He has even hired me part-time, to help him with a new client who wants him to handle her landscaping -- I have some knowledge of plants and gardening due to my years as a hobbyist. Plus, our house is paid for and we have money in the bank, thanks to an inheritance I got years ago.

Ergo, unlike other people in my position, I'll be able to outlast the Asshole-in-Chief.
If we don't get rid of these m*therfuckers soon, though, pretty soon there'll be two classes of people in this country: the rich and those who serve them.

[stickdog]

15. Nice "recovery", eh? (nt)